The Emperor Rejoiced with Great Joy: A Christian Artifact from 1342 Hidden in a Chinese Painting February 1, 2007

Lauren Arnold is author of Princely Gifts and Papal Treasures: The Franciscan Mission to China and Its Influence on the Art of the West 1250–1350 (San Francisco, 1999). She will explore one of the most interesting artistic vestiges of medieval missionary contact with Yuan China—the long-lost painting of the Heavenly Horse, commissioned in 1342 to commemorate the presentation of a gift from Pope Benedict XII to the last Mongol emperor, Shundi. The painting was rediscovered in the collection of the Forbidden City in Beijing during the writing of Princely Gifts. Since then, new research by the author has revealed a remarkable find: the Heavenly Horse has a companion painting in a major European museum. This companion painting is not only misattributed to the wrong painter, but contains a hidden Christian artifact of considerable historic importance as well. Please join us as Lauren reunites the two paintings and explains their significance vis-à-vis western Christian contact with China more than 650 years ago.

Lauren Arnold is an independent art historian and research associate at the University of San Francisco’s Ricci Institute for Chinese-Western Cultural History. She lives and works in Mountain View.

Education Studio
$5 donation
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